Puzzling It Out
Global math competition
Math students at Shawnigan are taking their puzzle-solving prowess to a global stage. The international math competition Puzzle of the Week, aimed at schools across the world, has been run by Math teacher Eric Venables as an internal competition at the School since last year. This year, he’s asked participants to take the additional step of registering with the Puzzle of the Week organization, making Shawnigan the first school in B.C. to join the global competition. Shawnigan is currently in 10th place out of all the schools registered worldwide.
“The competition gives an opportunity for students to display their various problem-solving skills (logic, numeracy, calculation, language, and shortcuts),” shares Mr. Venables. “I have noticed that quieter kids are really thriving as they can take the puzzle home and work on it for a week. I love seeing students in the hallway huddled around the weekly problem, having a heated debate about how to solve it. It gets the students a little bit outside of the curriculum, a little bit outside of their comfort zone and applying their skills (and sometimes research) to solve a problem.”
Shawnigan “Math Legends” (puzzle winners) so far include Melody W., Liam D., Dane S., Sewon S., Kyan M., Tye E., Magnus S., Alyn S., and Ella A.
Happy problem-solving!
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Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
